Judge Tanya Walton Pratt

ARTICLES

Tilting the microphone down from the podium, the youngest daughter of new Southern District Judge James Patrick Hanlon drew smiles from his investiture crowd as she characterized her father as a hardworking man who always makes time for his kids.

The former CEO of a nursing home company now serving prison time for his major role in a corporate fraud scheme has lost his bid to stay additional civil proceedings against him while he fights to have his convictions tossed on the basis of an alleged “profound conflict of interest” on the part of Indianapolis law firm Barnes & Thornburg.

In ceremonially donning his robe at his public investiture on Friday, Judge James Patrick Hanlon officially brought the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana to a full bench for the first time in nearly five years.

Indiana is again appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn a preliminary injunction blocking a state abortion law, this one requiring women to get an ultrasound at least 18 hours before the procedure. The provision was included in House Enrolled Act 1337, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Mike Pence in 2016.

A former Carmel resident who pleaded guilty to evading taxes on more than $1.2 million in income related to the multimillion sale of a rare painting was sentenced on Friday to 18 months in federal prison.

A McCordsville attorney and hobbyist photographer who has sued dozens of people for the alleged infringement of his photo of the Indianapolis skyline has lost key rulings in the most recent order in his various cases.

An attempt by the state of Indiana to squash discovery into its practice of maintaining voter rolls has been stopped by the Southern Indiana District Court, which pointed out to both parties that it has “extremely broad discretion in controlling discovery.” Judge Tanya Walton Pratt issued the order Friday in Common Cause Indiana v. Connie Lawson, et al., denying the state’s request to stay proceedings and discovery while the case is on interlocutory appeal.

A lawsuit filed by an Indianapolis woman who suffered “horrendous” injuries after she was mistakenly mauled by a police dog will not proceed after a federal judge granted summary judgment to the city of Indianapolis and dismissed the remaining defendants from the case.

A race organizer’s failure to bring promised IndyCar Boston Grand Prix Labor Day weekend races to the finish line has resulted in an award of nearly $4 million in damages to the Indianapolis-based open-wheel racing series, but it’s unclear how much IndyCar may be able to recoup from bankrupt promoters.

A lawsuit claiming the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and one of its deputies violated an inmate’s constitutional rights by leaving him unattended long enough for the inmate to kill himself will continue after a district court judge declined to fully grant summary judgment to the county.